A City Slicker's 2nd Home

So it’s those city folks, huh? They’re the ones trying to steal this election from a good Republican. That’s the claim Republicans supporting Congressional candidate Jim Tedisco are making as the results of the first special election since Barack Obama became President enter their second week of counting.

As Jimmy Vielkind at Politicker and Leigh Hornbeck at Capitol Confidential report in their excellent posts about the verrrry slow hand counting of absentee ballots in Columbia County, Republicans are objecting to nearly every ballot sent to addresses in New York City arguing that these second home owner don’t have a right to vote in Columbia County since it is not the location of their primary residence.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a second home owner in Columbia County but am registered to vote in New York City and therefore did not participate in this particular election.

The GOP’s lead lawyer is James Walsh who told Vielkind: “We have research to indicate that many of these people who reside on the Upper West Side and in Florida and other areas live there primarily, and they are continuously requesting absentee ballots in Columbia County when they are not eligible to vote there.”

Get Real has sat through enough hand counts and recounts and court sessions featuring famous New York election lawyers to known that any argument is fair game in the war to keep votes from being counted. Democrats and Republicans play the game with equal relish and vigor.

The problem with Walsh’s argument is it’s total b*llshit. New York courts have ruled repeatedly and conclusively that second home owners can vote in the towns and counties in which those homes are located. In fact a ruling handed down last October cites much of the history (read it here — go to page 3 for the definitive section) and makes it clear that the votes in Columbia County should be — and certainly will eventually be counted.

Republicans are objecting because these city slickers are almost surely votes for Democrat Scott Murphy who leads Tedisco by 25 votes (out of about 156,000 cast) as of Monday afternoon. Last month Get Real identified this contingent of voters (along with new high-tech residents of several other counties in the district) as the key to determining whether a Democrat could win three elections in a row in New York’s most Republican Congressional district.

Indeed the county-by-county results so far (there are 10 counties represented in the 20th District) back up our original argument that the district has changed markedly and is far more independent and less Republican than many observers believe. That, coupled with the drawn-out vote-counting, means that whoever eventually is declared the winner will not (nor will his party) be able to successfully brag about this election holding larger meaning.

Tip O’Neill famously said all politics is local. In this case, so will be the election result in the 20th. Whenever they finish counting the ballots.